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Nuclear plant resiliency is defined as the ability of a power plant to remain safe and available for... [+] power production against a pre-defined set of adverse conditions. NuScale’s SMR is the most resilient power plant of any type.

NOAA/NASA

The American Nuclear Society wrapped up its annual meeting in Philadelphia yesterday, and the development of new nuclear technologies is speeding along faster than most people think. Many new nuclear start-up companies have emerged, even fusion seems to be moving along, and governments like Canada, China and the United States are spurring the development of Small Modular Reactors.

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) announced SMR technology as a research priority and Canada now has aroadmapfor SMRs. CNL has vowed to build an SMR demonstration plant on their site by 2026. They received 19 expressions of interest for a prototype or demonstration reactor and three other developers proposed to move straight to commercial deployment in Canada.

This month CNL received submissions from four international and domestic SMR developers for this demonstration, with Terrestrial Energy’s Integrated Molten Salt Reactor topping the list.

China is also moving fast on its 100 MW SMR designed by the China National Nuclear Corporation. Called the Linglong One, this ACP100 nuclear reactor has completed its preliminary design stage and is qualified for construction in Hainan province this year. Its first use will be to generate heat for a residential district, replacing coal-fired boilers.

But the sprint in the United States is being led by the small modular nuclear reactor company, NuScale, out of Oregon. NuScale has passed several milestones in the past year. It was the first SMR company to file a license and design certification application with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and it is the first one to have the NRC complete their Phase 1 review – in record time.

That’s a huge deal because Phase 1 is the most intensive phase of the review, taking more hours and effort than the remaining five phases combined. NRC’s final report approving the design is expected to be completed by September 2020. NuScale’s first plant should be operational only a few years after that.

Their first customer is certainly ready. Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) will own the first NuScale plant, a 12-module SMR, and place it at the Idaho National Laboratory. It will be operated by the experienced nuclear operator Energy Northwest. This first application will take advantage of the SMR’s specific ability to completely load-follow UAMPS wind farms.

In January, NuScale announced that the NRC agreed that NuScale’s SMR design approach requires no safety-related power to safely shut down. No operating nuclear plant in the United States can make that claim – walk-away safe, can’t melt down – it’s what America’s been waiting for in nuclear since 1979.

NuScale’s SMR is approved for it’s walk-away-safe concept. The small size, with its large... [+] surface-area-to-volume ratio, prevents any kind of meltdown, and also means that the entire power plant covers less than a tenth of a square mile, about 60 acres, and doesn’t need large emergency evacuation zones.

NuScale

But Dr. Jose Reyes, NuScale’s Chief Technology Officer, made another couple of amazing announcements this week at the ANS meeting – that their SMR can generate 20% more power than originally planned, and that it can serve asFirst Responder Powerto help restore power to a grid after any catastrophe. Dr. Reyes is also a nuclear engineering professor emeritus at Oregon State University and is the scientist who originally conceived of this SMR.

That the reactor can get 20% more power than originally thought lowers the cost of the facility on a per kilowatt basis from an expected $5,000 to approximately $4,200. The new gross-output of a NuScale 12-pack power plant jumped from 600 MWe to 720 MWe, offering an impressive amount of additional carbon-free generation for almost no additional cost.

It also lowers NuScale’s levelized cost of electricity by about 18%, making it even more competitive with other electricity generation sources.

‘This new development is yet another way NuScale is changing the SMR game and pioneering this technology in the United States,’ said UAMPS Chief Executive Officer Doug Hunter, who is happy to get an even better bargain for his investment.

More power is great, but it’s even better if it can do that with a Black-Start Capability. This was the other announcement - the results of a three-year research effort to determine how NuScale’s plant design could achieve an unprecedented resiliency level allowing it to serve asFirst Responder Powerto help restore power to a grid (see Table).

First Responder Power is where, in the case of grid loss through natural or adverse events, the NuScale plant could offer black-start capability and could also serve as a self-contained, ‘island-mode’ power provider.

Table. NuScale SMR Plant Resilience Features

NuScale

This level of resiliency makes this SMR optimal for remote locations and mission-critical facilities like hospitals and data centers.

NuScale’s studies demonstrated its resiliency in a number of areas: nuclear safety, operational reliability, external events, disaster mitigation and grid resiliency. In the areas of external events and disaster mitigation, these studies examined the impact of a wide array of potential hazards: loss of grid connection, aircraft impacts, natural events like the hurricane that devastated Puerto Rico, and catastrophic loss of infrastructures such as fuel delivery systems.

NuScale’s SMR is designed to withstand all of these hazards, making it the most resilient power generator of any type. During a grid loss event, NuScale would be aFirst Responder Powerand serve as a solution to the event, rather than an added burden. This reactor is also able to withstand cyberattacks, high-altitude electromagnetic pulse threats and geomagnetic disturbances.

One NuScale module can power a community of over 40,000 people without having to connect to a larger grid, essential for isolated regions like islands and military bases that presently depend on fossil fuel. It can be used to provide process heat for industrial applications, or be integrated with intermittent renewables for a combined power plant that is impervious to extreme weather and that can provide zero-carbon affordable electricity 24/7.

Asregulatorsfrantically seek ways to bolster resiliency, andRTOs demandblack-start features, NuScale offers the only plant design in the world resilient to a long-term catastrophic loss to both the grid and fuel delivery infrastructure.

If Puerto Rico had a dozen of these plants, they wouldn’t have to worry about hurricanes the same way again.

I have been a scientist in the field of the earth and environmental sciences for 33 years, specializing in geologic disposal of nuclear waste, energy-related research,

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I have been a scientist in the field of the earth and environmental sciences for 33 years, specializing in geologic disposal of nuclear waste, energy-related research, planetary surface processes, radiobiology and shielding for space colonies, subsurface transport and environmental clean-up of heavy metals. I am a Trustee of the Herbert M. Parker Foundation, Adjunct at WSU, an Affiliate Scientist at LANL and consult on strategic planning for the DOE, EPA/State environmental agencies, and industry including companies that own nuclear, hydro, wind farms, large solar arrays, coal and gas plants. I also consult for EPA/State environmental agencies and industry on clean-up of heavy metals from soil and water. For over 25 years I have been a member of Sierra Club, Greenpeace, the NRDC, the Environmental Defense Fund and many others, as well as professional societies including the America Nuclear Society, the American Chemical Society, the Geological Society of America and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.